The man who set fire to Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei last Sunday has died from the injuries he sustained during the attack.
Cheptegei, 33, passed away in a hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, after suffering multiple organ failure last week. She had sustained 80% burns when her ex-boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, doused her with petrol and set her on fire.
Ndiema also suffered severe burns during the attack and was hospitalized. Kenyan police had planned to detain him once he recovered enough from his injuries.
However, officials announced this morning that Ndiema succumbed to his injuries.
A statement read: “Dickson Ndiema Marangach has died from the 30 per cent burns he sustained when he set his girlfriend Rebecca Cheptegei ablaze last week.
“The police believe he was burned by the same petrol he used to set Rebecca on fire following a dispute over land ownership.”
Neighbours in Kenya’s western Trans Nzoia County, where Cheptegei had recently moved to be closer to better training facilities, heard the pair arguing loudly at her home.
It is believed that Ndiema snapped, pouring petrol from a jerry can on Cheptegei before igniting it.
Neighbours who heard the commotion rushed to the scene to find the Olympian engulfed in flames. Despite their efforts to extinguish the fire, they were unsuccessful.
Agnes Barabara, a neighbour, told the BBC: “When I came out, I saw Rebecca running towards my house on fire, shouting: help me. As I went to get water and called for help, her assailant reappeared and poured more petrol on her.”
Barabara said she could not eat for days after witnessing the horrifying incident from just metres away, saying she had never seen anyone “burned alive.”
Cheptegei was born in Kenya near the Ugandan border but chose to represent Uganda as her athletic career advanced.
In 2022, she won gold in the up and downhill mountain race at the inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand.
Cheptegei also won the Padova marathon in Italy earlier that year and finished second in the Abu Dhabi marathon with a time of 2hr 22min 47sec, the second-fastest time by a female Ugandan.
